Astern attack tow target



June 18, 1946.

J. W. GRIESINGER ASTERN'ATTACK TOW TARGET Filed May 2'7, 1944 '2 Sheets-Sheet l IN V EN TOR.

June 18, 1946. J. w. GRIESINGER 2,402,156

ASTERN ATTACK TOW TARGET Filed May 27, 1944 2 Shets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. c/o/wv 72 pxgs/A ezfl A 77%xveys Patented June 18, 1946 UNITED sT TEs PATENT OFFICE 2,402,156 ASTER-N ATTACK TOW TARGET John W; Griesinger, Dayton, Ohio Application May 27, 1944, Serial No. 537,672 was. (01. 273-1053) (Granted under the act of March 3, 1883, as amended April 30, 1928; 370 O. G. 757) 1 V The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes, without the payment to me of any royalty thereon.

' This invention relates to aerial gunnery targets and particularly to that class of targets which are intended to be attacked While being towed from the stern of an aircraft. 7

It is a part of Army gunnery training to attack an aircraft from astern, the trainee, for practice, being required to fire at a towed target from the rear. To fire into the rear of an ordinary tow target, however, is extremely hazardous for the aircraft which is doing the towing, yet heretofore no satisfactory device has been provided which obviates this danger.

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a tow target which is particularly adapted to lessen this hazard of the towing plane. More particularly it is an object to so construct the target that it will take a path which is parallel to the path of the towing plane but considerably below it or considerably to the right or to the left of it as may be desired.

Other objects and advantages will be evident as the invention is further described with reference to the drawings wherein- Fig. 1 is a side elevation of my improved tow target.

Fig. 2 is a front end view of the device.

Figs. 3 and 4 disclose two of the several ways in which the device may be loaded toalter its path with respect to the path of the towing plane.

Fig. 5 shows one of the sand bags, a plurality of which are employed to determine the path of the device with respect to the towing plane.

In the drawings, a hollow cone II] comprises a plurality of sectoral panels I2 joined together by seams Hi, all seams being reinforced by webbing IS. A single panel I8 has its sides joined to the other panels to complete the cone, the panel I8 being cut away as at 2B for a purpose which will later appear.

Panels I2 are composed in greater part of a relatively close woven cloth which is substantially impervious to the passage of air, while the entire panel I8 and a small part I9 of each sectoral panel I2 near the apex is made of a relatively coarse woven mesh through which air may pass quite freely. The perimeter of the base of the cone It is reinforced by a heavy cord 22.

Attached to the perimeter of the base of the cone In, preferably at the reinforcing of the joints between panels, are a series of bridle lines 24, the free ends of which are brought together as at 26 to form a loop to which the line from the towing plane'may be connected.

Stitched to the surface of the cone ID at the base are several layers of fabric 28, the stitching being so spaced as to form pockets for the sand bags 38, Fig. 5. It is the circumferential position of the sand bags 30 with respect to the cut away portion 20 which determines the offset between the course of the target and that of the towing plane.

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic view of the cone I0 viewed from the rear or apex end. Here the perforate cut away panel I8 is angularly spaced degrees from the sand bag load, which, of course, is drawn to the bottom by gravity. When the target, arranged as in Fig. 3, is being towed, air is forced laterally through the perforate panel I8 and simultaneously spills from the cut away portion 20, so that the reaction of the air moving laterally in one direction tends to move the target laterally in the opposite direction, whereby the target will take a course parallel to, but considerably below that of the towing plane.

On the other hand, if the perforate panel I8 is angularly spaced less than 180 degrees from the bottom to which the sand load gravitates, as for instance, to the left of top center, as seen in Fig. 4, the target will ride a course which is below but also to the right of the course taken by the towing plane.

Other positioning of the perforate panel l8 with respect to the load position will result in still other relative offsets between the towing planes course and the course of the target.

While the weight means 28-30 is carried on the convex surface of the cone near the base, it will, of course be understood that it may be supported in any convenient position which is eccentric to the cone axis, and while the opening 20 is made in the panel I8 adjacent the base, it may be made in any part of the perforated panel I8, or the panel I 8 may be made of imperforate fabric and the opening 20 made sufficiently larger to com pensate for the lack of small perforations, the object being to provide a lateral discharge of air from the cone which will react and deflect the cone oppositely from its normal path beyond the towing plane. Moreover, while the body of the target is in the form of a cone, any other suitable shell having the forward end open and the rearward end closed or partly closed will be considered within the scope of the invention.

Having described an embodiment of my invention, I claim:

end and having at least one lateral opening in the side wall, means for attaching a towline to the front end of the shell, and a weight means carried on the side wall of the shell near the base angularly spaced from the lateral opening.

3. A tow target, adapted for astern attack, which comprises a hollow conical shell having its side wall made up of a plurality of triangular panels, at least one of said panels being composed of highly perforate material and the remainder of the panels having a lesser portion perforate, means for attaching a towline to the base of the conical shell, and a weight mean carried on the shell eccentrically disposed with respect to the shel1 axis and angularly spaced from said perforate panel.

4. A tow target adapted for astern attack, which comprises a hollow cone with an open base and the side wall made up of a plurality of triangular panels, at least one triangular panel being composed of highly perforate material, the remainder of the triangular panels being composed of imperforate material except for a small area at the apex of each triangle which is composed of perforate material, means for attaching a tow line to the open base of the cone, and a weight carried on the side wall of the cone near the base angularly spaced from the perforate panel.

5. A tow target adapted for astern attack, which comprises a hollow cone with an open base and the side wall made up of a plurality of triangular panels, at least one triangular panel being composed of highly perforate material and having a portion cut away at the base to provide a relatively large lateral opening in the cone side wall, the remainder of the triangular panels being composed of imperforate material except for a small area at the apex of each triangle which is composed of perforate material, means for attaching a tow line to the base of the cone, and a weight carried on the side wall of the cone near the base angularly spaced from the perforate panel.-

JOHN W. GRIESINGER. 

